As Told By Akchita: 2020

NaNoWriMo Day 30

Monday, November 30, 2020

Well, not only has November come to an end but so has NaNoWriMo. I cannot believe that I won with a couple of days to spare. There were days where I didn't think I would win but I did! It's been such a wonderful month and I have learned so much about me!

Here's what I have learned:

I fell back in love with writing

I haven't written this many words in one project in about three years. That is huge for me.
This has been such an amazing journey and I have now realized that this is why I fell in love with writing to begin with. I am so, so glad that I decided to give this a go.

I need to have an outline to write my stories.

I love having an idea of where my story is going to go because I don't like having to come up with things randomly.
I did change some things as the story progressed but they were minor details.

I need to practice writing in different tenses to get better at them

I love, love writing in first person but I wanted to try writing in third-person/limited past tense and in the view point of my MC and LI.

Practice makes perfect

I need to write consistently to become a better writer. I know this sounds self explanatory but I believed for too long that I wasn't a good writer. However, this was just the imposter syndrome talking.

I need a writing routine and incentives

I write best at night but I need to have a routine that helps me finish a manuscript.
I also love, love having incentives for the writing that I do. I need that to push me forward.

I can't write while watching a movie/show/YouTube video

I simply need music, preferably movie soundtracks, to get me to write more words. I tend to get distracted which is never good for actually getting words down.

I love writing by hand

I knew this already but it was nice to get the confirmation
This was also a great excuse for me to get new writing supplies

Voice to text is amazing for NaNoWriMo

While I used voice to text to get words down quicker, I prefer writing by hand

Sunday, November 29, 2020

I spent the day working on my outline and revamping it to fit better with the story. I know the characters better than I did at the beginning and I also know more details about the story itself. This has been a challenge but at least now I know what has and hasn't worked.

I spent too much time setting up the characters and their lives so I need to push back. I think I can do this by removing about 15,000 words--which is a lot--of the story that don't need to be there.

Here is a list of what I worked on today:

Figure out what scenes need to be cut
Figure out how to connect the scenes with each other
What new information did I come up with that I didn't have in my outline

How does this change the details (what is the name of my MC's therapist, what is the name of her co-workers, what is the LI's co-workers name, etc).

Now that I have decided what scenes need to be cut, how can I establish my MC's current state in a way that's done well

Saturday, November 28, 2020

Well, since I won NaNoWriMo yesterday so I'm going to stop writing the story so I can work through the issues. There are so many aspects of the story that I do not like all that much. I think that in order to continue to write the story, I need to re-work a lot. This means that I need to cut a lot of words and change the entire pace of the novel. I'll have more updates on the 30th.

Friday, November 27, 2020

Recommended:45,009

Actual: 50,019

I WON NANOWRIMO I WON NANOWRIMO I WON NANOWRIMO I WON NANOWRIMO.

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Recommended:43,342

Actual: 42,066

How do we have four days left in this month?! Where did November go?

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Recommended: 41,675

Actual: 41,763

I am so close to winning. There are only five more days and the last thing I want to do is give it up.

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Recommended:40,008

Actual: 36,321

I am so behind on this story but I WILL NOT GIVE UP.

Monday, November 23, 2020

Recommended:38,341

Actual: 35,935

I think I that I need to re-work most of my story from the beginning but it's fine. I'm just excited that I am writing and happy about it.

Sunday, November 22, 2020

Recommended: 38,341

Actual: 34,328

I have pretty much lost all interest in this book and it sucks. I don't know how I'm going to finish this story. But I defiantly should finish it, and promptly put it away, because I have less than 20,000 words left until I finish. Here's hoping it gets better but it probably won't.

Saturday, November 21, 2020

Recommended: 35,007

Actual: 32,751

Well, I have officially fallen behind so that's been a lot of fun. I have a lot of ideas about my revisions so that's a plus.

Friday, November 20, 2020

Recommended: 33,340

Actual: 32,457

I am surprised that I've kept up thus far with my word count goal. I have a feeling that I'm about to lose that streak but at least I'm still writing. I think that I have spent too much time in a certain part of the story. I don't like one of my character's voices as much as I thought I would so that's something I need to work through.

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Recommended:31,673

Actual: 30,247

I am behind but at least it's not too bad. I am so glad that I chose to do this because it's been such a fun time.

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Recommended:30,006

Actual: 30,126

I barely made the word goal but I was able to write enough words to catch up.

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Recommended:28,339

Actual: 27,125

I am behind once again but I am stil going to try and win this damn thing. The story has been really rough but I have ideas on how to make it better.

Monday, November 16, 2020

Recommended: 26,672

Actual: 25,784

I feel like NaNoWriMo has been such a rollercoaster for this. There are days when I reach my word goal like it's the easiest thing but also, there are days where writing is the worst thing. Today was one of those hard days where I wanted to give up. But I made it half way through and I want to make it all the way.

Sunday, November 15, 2020

Recommended: 25,005

Actual: 25,087

I can't believe that we're half way through the month of November and NaNoWriMo.

Saturday, November 14, 2020

Recommended: 23,338

Actual: 23,563

I don't think I can talk about how hard it was today to write my words. That's probably why I barely got the recommended words but I did.

Happy Diwali

Friday, November 13, 2020

Recommended: 21,671

Actual: 23,245

I am still really enjoying the story I am writing. I have incorported some journal entries and I think that I need to write a story in that format.

Thursday, November 12, 2020

Recommended: 20,004

Actual: 23,102

I don't know how I managed to get ahead with my word count but here we are. It's been a lot and I am still very exictted about this story.

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Recommended: 18,337

Actual: 20,198

I have no idea how I managed to get ahead but here I am. I still like this story but some of the characters are a little bit confusing. I need to figure out what my characters want and a little bit more about their futures.

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Recommended: 16,670
Actual: 20,023

I've been trying really hard to get ahead with my word count. This weekend is Diwali and the family is coming back for the celebration.

If I'm being honest, I am already stuck in my story. I think my issue is that I am spending too much time building up the backstory for my characters. I want to get to the fun parts already. I have a feeling that if I edit this story, I'll be changing a lot of the story.

Monday, November 9, 2020

Recommended:15,003
Actual:15,346

I was able to meet my goal but I think that by tomorrow, I'm going to try and reach 20K. I have a busy weekend coming up and I want to give myself a break.

Sunday, November 8, 2020

Recommended:13,336
Actual:15,076

I'm finally back with a good number of words for the day. I think I work really well with writing by hand and typing. I don't always like sitting at the desk, always writing with a screen. I also love writing by hand so I'm defiantely going to try do to that more.

Saturday, November 7, 2020

Recommended:11,669
Actual: 10,045

And I fell back down in my word count so I'm hoping I can catch up again. I am so thankful that I wrote an outline because I would be losing my mind if I hadn't.

Friday, November 6, 2020

Recommended: 10,002
Actual: 10,042

I am so glad that I was able to get ahead of the word count goal, even if it's just by a little. I'm still not as happy about what I'm writing. I am getting closer to my favorite parts of the story so I'm excited for that.

Thursday, November 5, 2020

Recommended: 8,335
Actual: 6,802

Today was just not a good writing day. I really didn't like any of the scenes I wrote and it's just been a process.

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Recommended: 6,668
Actual: 6,320

I ended up falling behind again but I'm hoping that I can make up the missed words. It's been a stressful time as I just started my job.

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Recommended: 5,001
Actual: 5,101

I think it's really funny that my actual word count is the opposite of the recommended count.

Monday, November 2, 2020

Recommended: 3,334
Actual: 2,700

I fell behind on my word count goal but I'm hoping to make up for the lack of words. I'm still going pretty strong with the story but I think I'm spending too much time in one area of the story.

Sunday, November 1, 2020

Recommended: 1,667
Actual: 2,106

I am so glad that I was able to get ahead on day 1. I'm really enjoying the story and I can't wait for certain characters to meet.

Monday, October 26, 2020

As I just decided that I wanted to blog about my NaNoWriMo journey this year, I thought that it would make the most sense to talk about how I'm preparing for this month long journey!

I shared the basics of my story in this post. In this post I want to go into details about how I've been preparing for NaNoWriMo.

The Plot

I've been writing since I was 10 years old and I've basically always needed a plot to write. I've tried to be a pantser (someone who writes by the seat of their pants and not a lot of planning) but it hasn't worked for me. I like to have an outline that gives me the major plot points with enough room to change things as necessary.

The first thing I do is use a bullet point list of any and all scenes I can come up with. I usually have the beginning, the main climax and the ending by the time my synopsis is written. I also create a separate list of scenes I'd like in my story but don't know where it fits in.

After that, I flesh out the rest to have a better story. I've been using the 15 beat sheet outline method from Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder and Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody. I got both books at the beginning of the year to help me plot my stories.

The Writing Tools/Software

Pen + Paper

Specifically, blue Papermate Profile 1.4 pens and college ruled composition notebooks. I am pen and paper gal so I can never truly write any story without it. I love these pens so much that I have about ten extras at all times. I have a very bad memory and handwriting things helps me remember better. It's not perfect, and it obviously makes it hard to count my words, but I'd much rather get all of the words down versus not.

Scrivener

When I won Camp NaNoWriMo, I was able to get a half off code for Scrivener so I jumped at the chance. While I do hand write most of my story, I do type up my stories.

Google Docs

I'm using Google Docs for voice to text annotations. I find it a lot easier than typing out everything I've written. As this is NaNoWriMo, I don't care as much about punctuation so I go with what little the software can capture.

My Bullet Journal

I don't think I've ever talked about my BuJo on this blog but I've really fallen in love with it. I don't do a lot of the pretty, decorative planning but I pulled out all sorts of stickers for me to keep track of how many words I've written.

Other Things

Snacks

Flamin' Hot Cheetos, coffee (frozen and cold brew), water, and a few Indian snacks that I always like to have. I think that I'm also going to get myself a few Starbucks coffees as rewards.

Rest days

I'm really trying to get a head start at the beginning of the month when I know that my excitement for the story is going to be at it's peak. I want to take a few rest days. We have Diwali on the 14th, my dad's birthday some time after that, and of course, Thanksgiving. While Thanksgiving really isn't all that big for us Diwali is one of the most auspicious days for Hindus. Now that my family lives all over the place, when we come together for Diwali, it's going to be especially amazing.

I'm really hoping that all of this is enough for me to win NaNoWriMo this year. That's my biggest goals for this year. I want to write this story as it comes to me.

Saturday, October 24, 2020

I am so excited to not only announce that I am participating in National Novel Writing Month this year, but I am also sharing more information about the story I'll be writing. I created a mock cover for this story. It's a simple one I created on Canva just for the fun of it. I'm trying very hard to get myself motivated to write this story and win NaNoWriMo this year.

Genre:

Romance

Sub-genre:

Contemporary

Age category:

Adult

Tropes:

second chance romance, friends to lovers, single dad, grumpy hero

Setting:

Arden, Colorado

Setting details:

A small, fictional town in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains close to Aspen, Colorado. Essentially a tourist town due to its proximity to Aspen. It's closer to the mountains with incredibly beautiful views.

Synopsis:

Suhana Rathore feels like her life has come to a standstill after everything in my life goes wrong. Now that her ex-boyfriend is getting married, her mother continues to hound her to get married, and her job announces that it's closing, Suhana is ready for a change.

When her aunt invites her to come to Colorado for a time, Suhana jumps at the chance. But when she meets her high school boyfriend again, she realizes that she can't continue to run away from her life.

That's about all the information I have to share. The synopsis isn't all that good but it's what sparked the initial idea. All of my ideas come as synopsis, with at least my main character name and usually the main conflict. I've been using the Save the Cat (and the Save the Cat: Writes a Novel) beat sheet to help me outline, but I'll talk more about that in another post.

Thursday, October 22, 2020

I was really hoping that I could avoid making this post but I figured I owed an explanation about what's been going on here. As y'all can see, my Halloween movies series fizzled and burned out before it truly began. I should've known that would happen considering I'm not the biggest Halloween fan. Either way, life got in the way

I've been on the hunt for a job since July, after my company officially closed its doors. I found a job, and really enjoyed it, but I wasn't getting enough hours to make the job worth my time. It was a very difficult decision. I'm so fortunate that my parents allow me to live at home rent free but that has taken a toll on us. I want to be able to help my parents with the mortgage for our home and I can't do that without a job. I was finally able to find another job (well, I will be working part time with an old company) and I am happy with that.

On another note, I have decided that I will be participating in NaNoWriMo 2020. For those of you who might not know, National Novel Writing Month occurs every November. The basic goal for NaNo is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I say basic, however, because people change and modify the goals to suit their needs. I am very excited about this story and I'm excited to begin writing.

However, and this is a big however, my overall goal is to once again prepare to take the LSAT in 2021, hopefully in April. It'll be my second time taking the test and I really want to do well on it. I didn't do all that well with my first score and it essentially left me feeling defeated. After a lot (and I mean A LOT) of reflection, I have decided that pursuing a law degree (specifically a JD) is what I want to do. Above the the job and NaNoWrimo is going to be my preparation for this test.

While I'm taking a full break from blogging on my book blog, I have decided that I'll be taking y'all with me on this journey of writing this book, studying for the LSAT, and just my life in general. I have been getting back into tarot and oracle card readings (I'm so excited for this) and I have been told over and over again that I need to take btter care of myself. I need get back into the enthusiasm of child me and get excited about life. Maybe I'll take in depth about my journey with all of this.

Either way, I'm excited for the next few months. I am trying to believe in myself and my abilities as much as possible.

Thursday, October 1, 2020

Today's movie is:

I remember when we finally got Disney Channel and I was able to watch this movie every Halloween as a kid. I knew that the first movie I wanted to watch for this month had to be this movie. Not only for Debbie Reynolds, but also all of the nostalgia involved. It's been such a big part of my childhood. I learned English watching these movies.

<>Released on: Disney Channel

<>Release date: October 17, 1998

<>Available to stream on Disney+

CAST

<>Debbie Reynolds as Agatha “Aggie” Cromwell

<>Kimberly J. Brown as Marnie Piper

<>Judith Hoag as Gwen Piper

<>Joey Zimmerman as Dylan Piper

<>Emily Roeske as Sophie Piper

<>Phillip Van Dyke as Luke

<>Robin Thomas as Kalabar

I love Halloween for the candy and I loved dressing up when I was younger
Going trick or treating was one of my favorite new adventures with moving to the US as a kid
Dylan is such a great character and I love him so much; I remember thinking he was hilarious as a kid
I didn't know what a big deal Debbie Reynolds was as a kid and had no idea that she was Carrie Fisher's mother. It's so emotional watching these movies now, after she's gone, to see just what an incredible force she truly was.
"My story is about a magical place where many different sorts of creatures live in peace." "Like Cleveland?"
Listen, the ability to go to an entirely new place as a kid--one that's fictional and magical and a little bit weird--was the best thing for me as a kid. I want to go there even more now.
I love that the bus that takes them to Halloweentown is a yellow school bus. Why does this remind me of the Magic School Bus?
Wow, it's wild to see how much our technology has changed over the years. I remember being a kid and being blown away by all of the special effects but they look so aged now. None of us would ever be so open to watching a movie today with effects that were so aged.
The costumes are so great, oh my gosh, I love them all. I wonder what a kid watching this movie now would think about it.
"I'm something of a big cheese around here." Is this what's considered a great comparison for this time period?
I want to fly on a broomstick!
God, that scary flying creature thing in the movie theater scared me so badly.
Ha, I love that they sent the dog after the skeleton.
Sophie is the cutest! I love that she's always so observant and catches onto things her older siblings miss.
Y'all ever just think about the fact that we leave children to do so much of the heavy lifting in these kinds of movies?
I remember how shocked I was as a kid when Kalabar was revealed to be the bad guy. It was such a fun twist for kids.
Aw, that cheesy ending is so much fun. I love that Marnie is able to get the talisman into the pumpkin just in time.
I also never realized the idea of good versus evil and light versus dark. It's so obvious yet so much fun.
I also love that the strongest witches were the matriarch's of their families.
So, I've learned a lot over the years that goblins with large noses and ears can be anti-Semitic so I wonder if that's the case here. I don't think this aspect of the movie would hold up now.

I really enjoyed watching this movie again, after so many years, as an adult. It really brought back the nostalgia of this entire series. It's so incredible to remember how little I knew about Halloween as a child because this wasn't something I had grown up with. I will always love and appreciate how entertainment helped me learn English, understand certain aspects of the culture in the United States, and what a fun experience it all was.

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

I am not a fan of scary things. I don't like horror or even thriller movies. Don't give me ghosts or anything supernatural or paranormal. October and Halloween can be really bas for me because I get scared easily. However, I love watching children and family oriented Halloween movies. They're the perfect amount of scary and fun. And thus, when I was planning my content for October, I decided to do a series where I watch Disney Halloween movies. I love Disney movies and TV shows (I have a lot to say about the company itself) so this was the best choice.

I have 14 movies I want to watch and talk about. Some are brand new to me and others are long time favorites. Here are some of the movies I'm going to watch for this month: